A 4,200-year-old golden hoard, comparable to the fabulous treasures of Troy, has been discovered in Bulgaria to the delight of archaeologists desperate to outdo looters in the former communist country.
The miniature pieces were unearthed in an ancient tomb in Dabene, 120km east of Sofia. The objects, including 15,000 ornate golden rings, may have been made by a race predating the ancient Thracians.
Scholars have described the objects as the oldest ever found in Bulgaria.
PHOTO: AP
"This treasure is a bit older than Schliemann's finds in Troy and contains many more golden ornaments," said Vasil Nikolov, director of the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute, who oversaw the excavations.
He said that the finds had been gradually unearthed from the burial place over the course of the past year.
Bulgarian archaeologists said the discovery matched the magnificent treasure trove of jewels, bracelets, golden diadems, rings, and cups unearthed at Troy in 1873 by the retired German merchant Heinrich Schliemann. Known as the "jewels of Helen," Schliemann had his Greek wife, Sophia, photographed wearing them before smuggling the artefacts to Berlin.
The gold has since been on display in Moscow's Pushkin Museum -- much to the consternation of Turkey, which wants it back.
With tomb raiders also making their presence felt in Bulgaria, local archaeologists are battling to reach the country's ancient burial sites first. Experts estimate there are some 15,000 tombs dotted across the Balkan state.
But despite the excitement of the new treasure, archaeologists are uncertain as to which civilization produced it. Nikolov said that it was most likely that it was the work of "proto-Thracians" living in what is now Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Macedonia and Turkey.
Put down as illiterate "barbarians" by the ancient Greeks, the Thracians remain one of Europe's most mysterious civilizations.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
STILL AFLOAT: Satellite images show that a Chinese ship damaged in a collision earlier this month was under repair on Hainan, but Beijing has not commented on the incident Australia, Canada and the Philippines on Wednesday deployed three warships and aircraft for drills against simulated aerial threats off a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese forces have used risky maneuvers to try to drive away Manila’s aircraft and ships. The Philippine military said the naval drills east of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) were concluded safely, and it did not mention any encounter with China’s coast guard, navy or suspected militia ships, which have been closely guarding the uninhabited fishing atoll off northwestern Philippines for years. Chinese officials did not immediately issue any comment on the naval drills, but they
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight on several Russian power and energy facilities forced capacity reduction at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and set a fuel export terminal in Ust-Luga on fire, Russian officials said yesterday. A drone attack on the Kursk nuclear plant, not far from the border with Ukraine, damaged an auxiliary transformer and led to 50 percent reduction in the operating capacity at unit three of the plant, the plant’s press service said. There were no injuries and a fire sparked by the attack was promptly extinguished, the plant said. Radiation levels at the site and in the surrounding
RSS